Surfing at the speed of light

Plastic chip makes Web browsing faster

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From staff reports

(CNN) -- In this microwave-drive-through-give-it-to-me-now era, faster is better -- particularly when it comes to getting on the Internet.

"Everyone wants on the Internet faster, wants to get their downloads faster and lots of information in a short length of time," said Bill Steier of the University of Southern California.

The "opto chip," a new plastic chip that's the result of nine years of research, stands to deliver the speed surfers want.

HOMEWORK HELP Laser light Fiber optic beginnings History of fiber optics Understanding fiber optics More Homework Help    VIDEO CNN's Ann Kellan shows how a new light-processing chip may yield faster computer networking. Quicktime Play Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K

Information, whether on the phone or through Internet sites, starts as an electronic signal. That information leaves the phone traveling as a light beam moving through fiber optic networks. It's converted back to an electronic signal when it reaches its destination.

If Albert Einstein was right, nothing travels faster than light. So it's not the journey that's slowing things down, it's the conversion from electronic signal to light and light back to electronic signal.

And that's where the opto chip makes the difference. It speeds up that conversion, perhaps as much as five to 10 times faster.

On the home front, the device could lead to rapid improvements in cable television and satellite communications. Personal computer users will reap the benefits of the high-speed connection only if they have DSL or cable modems.

The opto chip's speed also stands to benefit businesses that transmit large amounts of data around the globe, and the military could use it to improve navigation systems for ships and aircraft.

"There is an exciting race going on between these people making these optic switches out of plastic and the people making the optic switches out of crystal," said Gordon Thomas, a physicist. "And what these guys are reporting is that the plastic guys have made a very significant advance."